Bread and pasta myths debunked: dietitians weigh in on healthy eating
Want to shed a few extra pounds? You don't have to give up pasta or bread. Just follow the advice of a dietitian, and the pounds will start to drop.
19 May 2024 16:58
A few years ago, there was a media frenzy about gluten. It was believed to be responsible for abdominal obesity and skin allergies. Sometime later, scientists debunked this harmful myth.
Despite this, many people avoid gluten-rich products like bread and pasta. Planning to go on a diet and can't imagine a day without a slice of bread? You don't have to give it up. Learn the opinion of an experienced dietitian.
Is bread unhealthy?
Bread is the most popular and oldest food product in the world. The ingredients are simple — flour, water, and yeast or sourdough. Depending on the flour used, a slice of bread has from 40 to 90 kcal. For this reason, it is considered a high-calorie product, similar to pasta. The composition of pasta is strikingly similar to that of bread. It's made of durum wheat flour and water. In 3.5 ounces (100 grams) of pasta, there are over 300 kcal.
Do bread and pasta actually make you gain weight? Dietitians have debunked this myth. Due to their high flour content, both bread and pasta are primarily composed of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are one of the three main macronutrients, along with proteins and fats. They provide energy and strength for action.
The "harmfulness" of carbohydrates is linked to the growing popularity of the ketogenic diet based on protein and fat. People on a ketogenic diet deliberately eliminate carbohydrates to induce a state of ketosis in the body. In this state, the body starts deriving energy from fat instead of sugars, thereby "burning" excess body fat.
On a diet? Don't give up bread
Summer is approaching. In just a month, we will be blissfully lounging on the beach. No wonder so many people decide to go on a diet. Don't give up bread or pasta if you want to lose a few pounds by summer. You risk a deficiency of B vitamins, which are essential for the proper functioning of the body.
However, there's one way to make pasta and potatoes less fattening. After cooking, allow them to cool completely, then reheat them in a pan or microwave. This phenomenon is called retrogradation. Reheating makes the starch more digestible and does not cause blood sugar spikes. After eating the reheated dish, you won't be hungry for a long time, so you'll eat less.
Remember, maintaining a caloric deficit is the only way to lose weight. You can eat anything if you do not exceed your daily caloric needs. How do you calculate it? Use a calorie calculator. You will get information about your daily caloric needs after entering your height, age, and weight. Subtract no more than 500 kcal from it. Stick to the set number, and you'll notice the first weight-loss results within a month.
Source: Gazeta.pl
